Use this in any netty instance: import javax.ws.rs.GET; import javax.ws.rs.Path; import javax.ws.rs.container.AsyncResponse; import javax.ws.rs.container.Suspended; import javax.ws.rs.core.MediaType; import javax.ws.rs.core.Response; @Path( "/" ) public class ResteasyRestImpl { @GET public void sendAsync( @Suspended final AsyncResponse response ) { Thread t = new Thread () { @Override public void run() { response.resume(Response .status(200) .entity( "I have no head\n" ) .type(MediaType.TEXT_PLAIN) .build() ); } }; t.start(); } } The response will have the HTTP status line followed by the body... skipping any HTTP header. $ curl -D /dev/stderr 'http://localhost:8910/' HTTP/1.1 200 OK I have no head!